"Well, he was quite rude." I said, returning to my seat on Asra's lap.

"Is everything alright?" Asra asked, worry dripping from her words.

"Yeah. It's fine; just some stuck-up Butler pretending he's better than everyone else." I told her, trying to pretend his comment hadn't gotten to me.

My hands started fiddling with the hem of my skirt, as I thought. Was there really something wrong with how I was dressed? I had thought I looked nice.

"Must have been Norburt. The old bastard thinks he can talk down to anyone just because he's friends with the king." Lyra explained with a look of disdain.

"Balding, bulbous nose, way too much confidence, and a suit that is painfully fancy?" I asked, curious about this person my eldest hated so.

"Yep, sounds like him." She answered with growing rage. "The bastard kept calling Sophia her deadname for eight months. He only stopped when the king threatened his damn job."

Even though I had never heard the term before in context, it wasn't hard for me to figure out what deadname meant. It honestly didn't make sense to me that someone would act like that. You don't get to choose what other people's names are. They just tell you, and you go with it.

One thing stood out in my thoughts. "8 Months! Why the hell did the king let it go on so long." I had to stop myself from screaming. If anything like that had happened to one of my daughters, I would have ripped the bastard to pieces in less than a week.

"It happened because the king is so obsessed with the neutrality that he refused to call her anything other than gender-neutral terms until 'Eluna's blessing fully took hold.'" Lyra explained with air quotes.

I had absolutely no idea how to react to that. My brain just couldn't handle a parent treating their child so callously. For the first time in my life, I felt bad for a princess.

"Anyway, let's talk about something else. I don't want to dwell on old issues." Lyra said with finality.

After we all took a moment to come down from the last topic, Asra spoke. "Did he say when the meeting was?"

"Yeah. Tomorrow morning at 11. Will we have to dress up? That's like a thing you're supposed to do when meeting royalty. Right?" I asked.

"If you want to." Asra answered. "You could also dress like a cartoonish tribal to piss him off. Hell, if you did, I'd probably join you."

Laughing, I smiled up at her. "Thank you, but no. I actually think I kind of want to try dressing up."

"Well then, it looks like we might need to take another trip to the closet." Asra returned with a wicked grin. Oh no, what had I just gotten myself into?

"Hey, uh, everyone." Vayla's voice drew everyone's attention. "I'm going to be heading back to Everen in the morning. I need to talk with Anya and the elders will get angry if I'm gone too much longer, and I really don't want them to be more angry with me."

"Alright Vayla. Just remember, if you ever need anything, all you have to do is send a letter." I said, giving her the warmest smile I could.

She squeaked out a small "thanks, Mom" before falling quiet.

"So what will be first on the schedule then? Dress shopping or training?" Mother asked teasingly.

"And why do you think I will be getting a dress." I said with a tone of indignation. All she did was give me a look that said, 'We both know why.' after glaring at her, I turned my attention to Asra. I absolutely WAS NOT POUTING!

"Fine, let's get the clothes shopping out of the way first so it doesn't distract me." I said 100% normally.

"Oh, what did I just hear? Did little September just say she won't be able to focus on her training because she's thinking about all the pretty dresses she wants to try on?" Mother teased.

"Mooooooooom!!" the word ripped out of my throat before I even knew what I was doing. It was almost instinctual.

After the giggling of the other three women died out, I spoke. "Well, I'm going to go take a shower. Have fun plotting my demise." I heard another flurry of giggles as I scurried out of the room.

As I walked down the hall after my shower, my mind lingered on my body. During the shower, I had become intimately aware of just how much it had changed. Everything was different down there. Will I have... Could I get...!

Somehow, in my stupor, I made my way back onto Asra's lap, only noticing when her hand started coming through my still-damp hair. "Something on your mind?"

"Kind of, but it's not a big deal. Not something you need to worry about." I told her.

Not satisfied with my answer, Asra continued to push. "Come on. We can't help if you don't tell us what's wrong, September."

"It's nothing, ok!" I said much louder than I wanted to. "The shower just made me a lot more aware of my body, and I was wondering if I could get pregnant and stuff." I said, much quieter.

That got her to shut up. I nearly laughed at the dumb look on her face, but I got distracted by how cute it was. I was really starting to hope life might stay this way. Even though it was extremely exhausting, it had been the most fun I'd had in a long time.

"You most definitely can get pregnant." Mother said. "But I don't think unplanned pregnancy will be too much of an issue for you." I was half tempted to smack the cheeky grin that my mother had off her face. I would never be doing anything like that with men, and we both knew it, but she didn't have to say it out loud.

"So, shopping. We should get going soon. Are we taking the auto-carriage or the door?" I asked desperately, trying to flee the previous topic.

"We'll be taking the carriage." Lyra announced. "That way, we don't have to carry your new wardrobe home."

"Wardrobe?" I asked, dreading her answer.

"Yeah, we'll need to get you your own eventually. You can't just borrow my clothes forever." Lyra teased.

"I don't think we'll be getting that much, but I do think you should pick up more than just the clothes for the meeting. just a few things so you can start to figure out your style." Asra suggested.

"Yeah. that definitely sounds much more reasonable." I said, shouting a light smile toward Asra. "I think I can manage that."

"Well, let's get going then. the days a waistin." Asra said, pushing me out of her lap. Her farm girl accent pocking out at the end.

I gave her a wide smile as I headed to the door. For the first time in a long time, I was looking forward to the future. My mother was back, I had a body I didn't hate, and no matter how much I complained, I was actually enjoying myself quite a bit. I really hope tomorrow goes well.

gNatonthewall

Hello everyone. September Swords made it onto trending again somehow. The story is really close to 500 readers. I say this every time, but it's still hard for me to fathom that that many people are reading my story. Thank you all so much. Question: when someone starts a Patreon, which do you prefer, advanced chapters or a Patreon exclusive story? Please answer the poll if you can. I wanted to see if I should continue with the two shorter chapters a week or if you would prefer one longer chapter every week. Thank you for reading, commenting, and favoriting. Have a nice day.